Drying Herbs

I am fascinated in methods of preserving our harvest, and my newest attempt is drying. I am drying wildflowers (as they are hanging all around our house), and I was recently given a dehydrator. My first dehydrating project is basil and parsley.

To harvest basil, cut no more than 1/3 of the plant at any one time, and cut from the top to encourage a bushier plant or from the sides to encourage a taller, more narrow plant. I harvested a small bowl's worth, washed the leaves and separated them from their stems. I then placed them on a few racks of the dehydrator (with no overlapping leaves) and plugged it in. I left the basil in for about 12 hours. I left the leaves whole to preserve as much of the flavor as I could. When it's time to cook I (or Josh) will use the mortar and pestle and grind up the leaves to release the oils and make the basil easier to cook with. After all of that work, it didn't make very much. I'm hoping to harvest about once a week in order to have enough basil to last through most of the winter.

To harvest parsley, cut the stems about one inch above the ground. The best time to harvest is when the plant is about to flower. Mine aren't close to that point, but they are very overcrowded and needed to be thinned, so I figured I'd try it now and see how it worked. I clipped here and there and had quite a bit more than I had of the basil. I dehydrated this separately in order to not mix flavors. After the parsley dried, I held the stem in one hand and ran my fingers across with the other to separate the small leaves from the stems. I should have no time filling this jar in the next few weeks.

After dehydrating herbs, be sure to check the jars periodically for moisture. If any condensation forms inside the jar, take everything out and put back in the dehydrator for another 6+ hours and dry out the jar to prevent mold or mildew.

Seeing the apothecary at the Bakersville was so neat. I can't wait until I also have rows of dried herbs and spices to use all year.

Drying Flowers

I love summer and lately I have taken the time to walk the trail through the woods and the field almost every day. Today I made it out for quite the hike and collected wildflowers from the overgrown field. We have them hanging all around our house, across the mantle, and on a string above the dining room and kitchen. It definitely gives our house a different feel.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with all of them. I'd like to try to make some wreaths depending on how they look when dried. I am also pressing some of the flowers beneath several stacks of books across the mantle.

As far as how to dry flowers, there isn't much to it.

:: Hang with rubber bands instead of string, so they stay hung once the stems start dring and shrinking.

:: Don't hang more than 6 or so stems together, so there is plenty of room for air to circulate.

:: Space the hanging bunches so that none are touching (again, for air circulation).

:: Wait.

For pressing,

:: Leave at least an inch around each flower.

:: Press with newspaper or paper towels on both sides of the flowers (at least 4 layers of newspaper)

:: Stack books on top.

:: Wait.

I'm not sure how long it will take. Everything I read said something different and I'm sure it has to do with the humidity. I'd guess in a few weeks I'll have some pretty dry flowers around.

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In family news, my wonderful great-grandmother passed away. She was an amazing woman and I wrote about her here. I am so glad we were able to take Ben to see grandma for her 90th birthday party. She was an amazing woman.

Black Raspberry Season!

For the past couple of weeks, we have been harvesting black raspberries. On some past blog entries, I said we were harvesting blackberries. We weren't. Blackberries are pulled off of stems and are larger than raspberries. Raspberries leave a white thing behind on the plant, and they have a hollowed out top because of it. The blackberries are just now coming in and we're gathering a handful or so each day. For the past 2 1/2 weeks we have been harvesting 1-2 pints of black raspberries each day, and they are delicious!

We have put raspberries in every salad, made raspberry soda, raspberry gelato for dessert, raspberry thumbprint cookies and raspberry jam. I tried canning for the first time! I didn't take step-by-step pictures because I just followed the directions inside the Sure-Gel package. It turned out great and I've made a second batch since then. I added a picture (above) of some of the jars (the ones that haven't grown legs and found new homes already) on the old fashioned kitchen we got from my mother-in-law's store, the Ozark Mercantile.

I'm still trying to convince Josh to write a guest blog entry about the raspberry soda. I bought Josh a water carbonator for father's day and we're going to try sarsaparilla next. Raspberry gelato is simply raspberries, sugar and cream.

I enjoy canning and am considering all kinds of new recipes. Corn cob jelly and walnut praline syrup are the next two on my list. Our garden hasn't taken off quite as well as I had hoped, so I'm going to start frequenting the farmer's market to buy in season vegetables for canning and freezing.

I recently purchased Super Baby Food and, although we aren't starting solids for a while, I plan on making and freezing some baby food (in ice cube trays) so we can feed Ben lots of healthy local vegetables when he starts eating.

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Ben is really starting to enjoy toys. He has been practicing moving his pacifier from his left hand to his right and back, and then back in his mouth (but always sideways or some weird way where it doesn't fit right). He's cooing and ah-gooing, enjoying his swimming pool (lots of kicking), and sleeping in his crib for at least the first half of every night.